![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Shawn-Gann-Indy-2015-e1589830251332.jpg\")
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One of NHRA\u2019s most flamboyant professional competitors has died. Shawn Gann, a five-time winner in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series\u2019 Pro Stock Motorcycle class passed on May 16th, apparently by his own hand. He was 42 years old and hadn\u2019t turned a wheel in anger since the 2017 season.<\/p>\n
Gann, whose father Blake\u2019s Gann Custom Speed prep shop entered his motorcycle and brought success to other riders in the PSM field, was known for his flamboyance, particularly with regard to his choice of leathers. From bright red, yellow, blue or silver leathers bearing the logo of sponsor PiranaZ or even the Batman logo he proudly adopted as his own, Shawn Gann always personified the independent individual.<\/p>\n
Mark Whisnant of PIranaZ noted, \u201cShawn was a very unique person and highly skilled racer,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was also one of the nicest and approachable people you would ever meet at the track, which fit our brand to the T.\u201d Whisnant recalled how Gann\u2019s desire to have his leathers be a replica of a Batman suit: \u201cWe gave up the marketing placement on the leathers to let Shawn\u2019s personality thrive,\u201d even though the Batman theme had little to do with PiranaZ\u2019 in-your-face clothing and hats.<\/p>\n
What Shawn Gann was known for, aside from his wild, almost costume-like nature of his riding leathers, was a sweet and funny disposition towards his friends and competitors in the NHRA community. As three-time Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Angelle Sampey said, \u201cShawn was very kind to me since the day I met him over 20 years ago. I considered him a real friend and not just a competitor. He added character to our class. I will miss him and his beautiful smile.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the drag racing community\u2019s Sunday was shattered with news of Gann\u2019s death, more and more of his two-wheeled compatriots logged in: \u201cGone but not forgotten,\u201d said master tuner and entrant George Bryce. \u201cThere is no way we could forget a character like the one and only Shawn Gann. He was super talented, so funny, so imaginative, always made me smile. He was a fast, awesome racer,\u201d Bryce acknowledged.<\/p>\n
Even without an announcement as to which rider was in which lane at any Mello Yello NHRA meeting where Pro Stock Motorcycle competed, it was always easy to discern when Gann did his burnout and approach to the staging lanes. He would rev up the engine on his Buell, toss it stridently from side to side as he primed his tires before staging. Always the showman, the show will somehow be a lot less enticing and fun now that Shawn Gann has left the building. RIP.<\/p>\n
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One of NHRA\u2019s most flamboyant professional competitors has died. Shawn Gann, a five-time winner in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series\u2019 Pro Stock Motorcycle class passed on May 16th,<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":72618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,17,4802,3470,5029,3399],"tags":[5614,4314,41,7,2285,7785],"class_list":["post-72617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-guest-column","category-motorcycles-and-powersports","category-news","category-racing","category-nhra","tag-anne-proffit","tag-motorcycle-racing","tag-news","tag-nhra","tag-nhra-pro-stock-motorcycle","tag-shawn-gann"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Shawn-Gann-Indy-2015-e1589830251332.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-iTf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72617"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72619,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72617\/revisions\/72619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}